Appl Water Sci (2013) 3:67–75

DOI 10.1007/s13201-012-0060-3

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Concentration of ions in selected bottled water samples sold

in Malaysia
Ahmad Zaharin Aris • Ryan Chuan Yang Kam •

Ai Phing Lim • Sarva Mangala Praveena

Received: 30 March 2012 / Accepted: 26 August 2012 / Published online: 23 September 2012
Ó The Author(s) 2012. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com

Abstract Many consumers around the world, including quality of the supplied bottled water was in accordance to
Malaysians, have turned to bottled water as their main standards and guidelines set by WHO and MMOH and safe
source of drinking water. The aim of this study is to deter- for consumption.
mine the physical and chemical properties of bottled water
samples sold in Selangor, Malaysia. A total of 20 bottled Keywords Bottled water
Natural mineral water

water brands consisting of ‘natural mineral (NM)’ and Packaged drinking water
Water quality
Major ions
‘packaged drinking (PD)’ types were randomly collected
and analyzed for their physical–chemical characteristics:
Abbreviation
hydrogen ion concentration (pH), electrical conductivity
NM Natural mineral
(EC) and total dissolved solids (TDS), selected major ions:
PD Packaged drinking
calcium (Ca), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg) and sodium
pH Hydrogen ion concentration
(Na), and minor trace constituents: copper (Cu) and zinc
EC Electrical conductivity
(Zn) to ascertain their suitability for human consumption.
TDS Total dissolved solids
The results obtained were compared with guideline values
Ca Calcium
recommended by World Health Organization (WHO) and
K Potassium
Malaysian Ministry of Health (MMOH), respectively. It was
Mg Magnesium
found that all bottled water samples were in accordance with
Na Sodium
the guidelines set by WHO and MMOH except for one
Cu Copper
sample (D3) which was below the pH limit of 6.5. Both NM
Zn Zinc
and PD bottled water were dominated by Na ? K [
WHO World Health Organization
Ca [ Mg. Low values for EC and TDS in the bottled water
MMOH Malaysian Ministry of Health
samples showed that water was deficient in essential ele-
RO Reverse osmosis
ments, likely an indication that these were removed by water
treatment. Minerals like major ions were present in very low
concentrations which could pose a risk to individuals who
consume this water on a regular basis. Generally, the overall
Introduction

A. Z. Aris (&)
R. C. Y. Kam
A. P. Lim

For the past three decades, bottled water consumption has
Environmental Forensics Research Centre,
Faculty of Environmental Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, been increasing steadily (Ferrier 2001). In the year 2006
43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia alone, 115 billion liters of bottled water was sold globally
e-mail: zaharin@env.upm.edu.my and by 2011, the market is forecasted to have a volume of
174 billion liters, which is an increase of 51 % from 2006
S. M. Praveena
Centre of Marine Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, (King 2008). The huge increase in demand has resulted in
71050 Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia the bottled water industry being one of the most dynamic

123
68 Appl Water Sci (2013) 3:67–75

sectors in the food and beverage industries (Rajasekaran shops in Selangor for their physical and chemical charac-
2009). Many consumers worldwide have turned to bottled teristics in terms of hydrogen ion concentration (pH),
water as their main source of water drinking consumption. electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS),
According to a consumer advocacy group, Food and Water calcium (Ca), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), sodium
Watch (2007), bottled water generally costs about 2,000 (Na), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn). The results were then
times more than tap water. However, even after this compared with guidelines prescribed by the World Health
astronomical inflation, consumers still insist on purchasing Organization (WHO 2008) and the Malaysia’s Ministry of
bottled water as it is regarded as cleaner, tastier and Health (MMOH 2009a, b) to ascertain their suitability for
healthier when compared to tap water. Safety and potential human consumption as drinking water. These guidelines
health benefits from bottled water are also important con- and standards are set for physical parameters, chemical
siderations (Ward et al. 2009). The seemingly lucrative constituents and microorganisms that could pose a threat to
business of selling water has caused the emergence of human health (Güler 2007), however, some limits are set
many new companies in the bottled water industry of according to esthetic qualities as well (WHO 2008).
Malaysia as well as an infiltration to our market by the soda
company giants such as Coca Cola with their bottled water,
Dasani. Local bottled water companies like Spritzer have Materials and methods
also observed a considerable boost in sales (Spritzer
Annual Report 2009). Consequently, hypermarkets today Collection of samples
can be seen dedicating numerous shelves for displaying
different varieties of bottled water from all kinds of brands. A total of 20 brands of commercially available bottled
Such action can be said to reflect once again on the ever water consisting of natural mineral and packaged drinking
increasing demand for bottled water by the public. types were purchased randomly from three different
Malaysians in general have also started to adopt to the supermarket stores in Selangor State, Malaysia between
trend of paying for bottled water. This is proven with the fact November and December 2010. To keep the brand names
that Malaysia’s bottled water consumption has ballooned anonymous, the samples were given code names and this
from 138 million liters in the year 1998 to a preliminary convention is used throughout the study. All brands were
value of 288 million liters in 2004 (World Water Data 2004). sold in 300, 500, 600 and 1,500 ml plastic bottles and are
When asked, a large number of consumers revealed that they sealed with plastic screw caps. The water bottles obtained
are often sensitive to the taste of chemicals, particularly were from the same production year. As most consumers
chlorine, which is widely used to purify tap water (Ferrier purchase bottled water from supermarket shelves these
2001). The esthetics of the water is especially the concern of sources were preferred for analysis. The classification of
the consumers rather than the contents (Chiarenzelli and the samples is illustrated in Table 1 while the origin for
Pominville 2008). In addition, the quality of Malaysian tap natural mineral bottled water is shown in Fig. 1.
water is also questionable (MMOH 2009a, b) as several
cases of bacterial contamination have been reported in the Analytical procedures
past. These could be the reasons for the growing number of
Malaysians turning to bottled water as their primary drink- The experimental analyses for the samples were done fol-
ing water source. Basically, there are two types of bottled lowing standard analytical methods for the examination of
water in the Malaysian market, namely natural mineral water and wastewater (APHA 1998). All plastic and
(NM) and packaged drinking (PD) water samples. They can glassware used were first acid washed with 5 % nitric acid
be distinguished by looking at the bottle cap. Natural min- (HNO3) for at least 24 h and rinsed thoroughly with
eral water bottles are given a colored cap, usually blue or deionized water prior to use. Water samples were divided
green, whereas packaged drinking water samples are given into acidified and non-acidified subsamples. The non-
white caps. NM water is microbiologically wholesome acidified samples were analyzed for hydrogen ion con-
water originating from an underground water table or centration (pH), electrical conductivity (EC) and total
deposit and emerging from a spring where it is tapped (Devi dissolved solids (TDS) using YSI multi-parameter. On the
and Premkumar 2012). On the other hand, PD water or other hand, samples to be acidified were first filtered
purified water is produced by carrying out reverse osmosis, through a 0.45 lm Whatman glass fiber filter paper. The
distillation, deionization, or other suitable processes on filtrates were then acidified with concentrated HNO3 in
water sourced from rivers, lakes or underground springs order to adjust the pH of the samples to pH 2. The batch
(IBWA 2000). of acidified samples was then preserved at 4 °C prior
In this study, the main objective was to examine 20 to analysis. Trace metals: copper (Cu2?) and zinc (Zn2?),
brands of bottled water samples available at different retail and major cations: calcium (Ca2?), potassium (K?),

123
Appl Water Sci (2013) 3:67–75 69

Table 1 Classification of
bottled water samples Sample Type Water source Number of samples Remarks
M1 NM Pendang, Kedah 3

M2 NM Lenggeng, Negeri Sembilan 3

M3 NM Bentong, Paha ng 3

M4 NM Taiping, Perak 3 Samples undergo

normal treatment
M5 NM Taiping, Perak 3 processes for
M6 NM Lenggeng, Negeri Sembilan 3 groundwater

M7 NM Batu Pahat, Johor 3

M8 NM T a i p i n g , P e ra k 3

M9 NM Kota Tinggi, Johor 3

M10 NM Kota Tinggi, Johor 3

D1 PD Syabas, Selangor 3 RO

D2 PD Syabas, Selangor 3 RO

D3 PD Taiping, Perak 3 Distillation

D4 PD SAJ, Johor 3 Distillation

D5 PD Syabas, Selangor 3 RO

D6 PD Taiping, Perak 3 Distillation

D7 PD Taiping, Perak 3 Distillation

D8 PD S y a b a s , S e l a ng o r 3 RO
M1–M10 NM bottled water,
D1–D10 PD bottled water, NM D9 PD Ta iping, Pera k 3 Filtration
natural mineral, PD packaged
drinking, SAJ Syarikat Air D10 PD Syabas, Selangor 3 Distillation
Johor, RO reverse osmosis

magnesium (Mg2?), sodium (Na?) were analyzed using also conducted to analyze the relationship between each
Inductive Couple Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS, parameters analyzed in the bottled water samples.
Perkin Elmer ELAN DRC-e). In order to maintain the
detection precision, external standard solutions were used
as a reference for every 10 samples determined. A mean Results and discussion
value was calculated for each metal analyzed with the
standard deviation (SD) being used as an indicator of the The chemical composition of natural water depends on many
precision of each metal measured in triplicate. factors which includes chemistry of atmospheric precipita-
tion, mineralogy of the rocks encountered along the flow
Statistical analysis path, residence time of the surface or groundwater, topo-
graphy and climate (Güler et al. 2002; Mokthar et al. 2009a).
A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedure was Hence, each bottled water brand has its own physical char-
applied to the analytical data obtained to determine any sig- acteristics and chemical properties that are defined by a
nificant differences among the elemental concentration of the unique combination of these factors. In this study, the
bottled water samples analyzed. The parameters considered physicochemical composition of 20 bottled water samples
were pH, EC, TDS, Ca, K, Mg, Na, Cu and Zn. A one-way including natural mineral water (NM) and packaged drinking
ANOVA was also used to identify if there were any significant water (PD) types were characterized and the results are
differences between natural mineral (NM) and packaged presented in Tables 2 and 3. The standard deviation, mean,
drinking (PD) bottled water. Pearson correlation analysis was and maximum and minimum values were obtained and

123
70 Appl Water Sci (2013) 3:67–75

Fig. 1 Sources of the analyzed

natural mineral bottled water

presented in Tables 2 and 3. In addition to that all the elements Hydrogen ion concentration
among the bottled water samples were statistically analyzed
using a one-way ANOVA at 95 % confidence level. The Results showed that bottled water samples are very different
results have shown that all parameters and elements between in character and display a wide range of parameter values.
samples were significantly different (p \ 0.05) except for the The hydrogen ion concentration (pH) for natural mineral
trace element zinc (p [ 0.05). (NM) bottled water ranges from 6.79 to 7.57 and has an

123
Appl Water Sci (2013) 3:67–75 71

Table 2 Water chemistry analysis for NM bottled water

Sample Parameters
pH EC (mS/cm) TDS (mg/l) Ca (lg/l) K (lg/l) Mg (lg/l) Na (lg/l) Cu (lg/l) Zn (lg/l)

M1 7.47 0.250 172.00 6,140.00 4,440.00 4,630.00 8,030.00 0.50 1.38

M2 7.56 0.333 234.00 7,870.00 3,910.00 8,830.00 65,100.00 1.04 1.51
M3 7.14 0.375 259.00 10,700.00 1,320.00 5,590.00 65,100.00 0.31 26.30
M4 7.43 0.193 134.00 5,080.00 3,130.00 2,360.00 2,460.00 0.40 13.80
M5 7.42 0.185 131.00 5,230.00 1,930.00 2,630.00 5,950.00 0.14 10.50
M6 7.57 0.209 148.00 4,950.00 2,930.00 1,070.00 65,100.00 0.51 1.20
M7 6.79 0.210 149.00 4,440.00 1,390.00 3,600.00 3,600.00 0.40 7.67
M8 7.26 0.206 145.00 5,380.00 1,910.00 2,910.00 5,690.00 0.11 0.96
M9 7.56 0.246 173.00 6,710.00 4,240.00 4,640.00 2,180.00 1.71 10.90
M10 7.09 0.181 127.00 4,480.00 3,250.00 1,790.00 1,100.00 1.28 41.30
Mean 7.329 0.239 167.20 6,098.00 2,845.00 3,805.00 22,431.00 0.64 11.55
Min 6.79 0.181 127.00 4,440.00 1,320.00 1,070.00 1,100.00 0.11 0.96
Max 7.57 0.375 259.00 10,700.00 4,440.00 8,830.00 65,100.00 1.71 41.30
SD 0.26 0.066 44.93 1,934.62 1,156.18 2,252.58 29,514.15 0.53 13.11
M1–M10 NM bottled water, EC electrical conductivity, TDS total dissolved solids, SD standard deviation

Table 3 Water chemistry analysis for package drinking water

Sample Parameters
pH EC (mS/cm) TDS (mg/l) Ca (lg/l) K (lg/l) Mg (lg/l) Na (lg/l) Cu (lg/l) Zn (lg/l)

D1 6.69 0.008 6.00 58.70 391.00 26.80 329.00 0.40 3.92

D2 6.61 0.005 4.00 55.40 374.00 32.40 691.00 0.96 7.28
D3 6.49 0.003 2.00 10.20 8.24 20.50 233.00 0.08 0.64
D4 6.51 0.002 1.00 193.00 748.00 134.00 280.00 0.26 40.50
D5 6.68 0.002 2.00 10.80 141.00 19.40 126.00 0.06 1.62
D6 6.86 0.002 2.00 14.00 44.50 21.80 488.00 0.06 0.19
D7 7.03 0.003 2.00 13.10 11.90 18.80 200.00 0.16 1.33
D8 7.11 0.014 10.00 93.90 400.00 44.20 785.00 0.03 0.66
D9 7.52 0.192 134.00 3,880.00 309.00 2,900.00 3,110.00 0.31 3.37
D10 6.93 0.010 7.00 82.00 340.00 32.30 613.00 0.07 2.49
Mean 6.84 0.024 17.00 441.11 276.76 325.02 685.50 0.24 6.20
Min 6.49 0.002 1.00 10.20 8.24 18.80 126.00 0.03 0.19
Max 7.52 0.192 134.00 3,880.00 748.00 2,900.00 3,110.00 0.96 40.50
SD 0.32 0.059 41.21 1,209.61 230.80 905.41 880.49 0.28 12.23
D1–D10 PD bottled water, EC electrical conductivity, TDS total dissolved solids, SD standard deviation

average value of 7.33. These values are considerably higher (Tables 2, 3). High calcium content tends to raise pH toward
than that of packaged drinking (PD) bottled water samples 8.3 in non-carbonated water (Appelo and Postma 1994). The
which ranged from pH 6.49 to pH 7.52 and averaged 6.84. A geographical condition of the natural mineral water sources
one-way ANOVA has proven that there was a significant also contribute to the high pH where the dissolution occurred
difference (p \ 0.05) between the two types of bottled water in the basin effecting the hydrogen ion concentration of the
at 95 % confidence level as shown in Table 4. Basically, pH obtained water (Chiarenzelli and Pominville 2008).
is determined by the amount of dissolved carbon dioxide
which forms carbonic acid in water by the reaction Electrical conductivity
H2O ? CO2 = H? ? HCO3-. A possible explanation is
that NM bottled water has around 13 times higher mean in Electrical conductivity (EC) values ranged from 0.181 to
calcium (Ca) concentrations than PD bottled water 0.375 milli-Siemens per centimeter (mS/cm) with an

123
72 Appl Water Sci (2013) 3:67–75

Table 4 Comparison between water chemistry of NM bottled water water are 167.20 and 17 mg/l, respectively. Generally,
and PD bottled water TDS consists of inorganic salts like calcium, potassium,
Parameters p value magnesium, sodium, bicarbonates, sulfates, chloride and
also small amounts of organic matter that are dissolved in
pH 0.001
water. TDS and calcium also showed a very strong corre-
EC 0.000 lation where the r = 0.989 and the same correlation of
TDS 0.000 TDS to magnesium which is r = 0.909 in this study was
Ca 0.000 found (Table 5). Therefore, it is expected for NM bottled
K 0.000 water to have a higher mean for both EC and TDS when
Mg 0.000 compared to that of PD bottled water since the source of
Na 0.032 NM water is principally groundwater. However, concen-
Cu 0.048 trations of TDS in water may vary to a large extent in
Zn 0.358 different geological regions depending on the solubility of
minerals (Chiarenzelli and Pominville 2008; WHO 2008;
average of 0.239 mS/cm for natural mineral (NM) bottled Mokthar et al. 2009a).
water samples. Whereas the EC of packaged drinking (PD) In this study, TDS was found to be significantly different
bottled water ranged from 0.002 to 0.192 mS/cm and has (p \ 0.05) between bottled water types (Table 4). How-
an average of 0.024 mS/cm. According to Trivedi and Goel ever, among PD bottled water, sample D9 depicts a dif-
(1986), EC is reflective of dissolved mineral solids. Usually ferent trend by having a significantly higher value
a higher EC value would indicate the presence of higher compared to other PD bottled water. This is because the
content of dissolved solids in the water (Abdullah et al. water source for D9 is actually groundwater and not water
2007). In this study, it has been shown that EC and TDS from tap. Furthermore, sample D9 was treated by filtration
had a very strong correlation (r = 1.00) as described in as discussed above (APEC 2000).
Table 5. However, a sample from PD bottled water, D9, is
an exception since the water is sourced from groundwater Major ions
in addition to the treatment process which is filtration.
Unlike the other processes such as reverse osmosis (RO) The concentration ranges for selected major ions in NM
and distillation underwent by the other PD bottled water bottled water were (in lg/l): 4,440–10,700 for calcium;
samples, the filtration process is less effective in removing 1,320–4,440 for potassium; 1,070–8,830 for magnesium
dissolved solids (APEC 2000). and 1,100–65,100 for sodium. PD bottled water have lower
range, which was (in lg/l): 10.2–3,880 for calcium;
Total dissolved solids 8.24–748 for potassium; 18.8–2,900 for magnesium and
126–3,110 for sodium. The overall mean for the selected
The total dissolved solids (TDS) for natural mineral (NM) major ions (calcium, potassium, magnesium and sodium)
bottled water ranges from 127 to 259 mg/l. While the TDS for NM bottled water is far above that of PD bottled water.
for packaged drinking (PD) bottled water ranges from 1 to The major ions in NM bottled water and PD bottled water
134 mg/l. The mean values of TDS for NM and PD bottled each showed significant differences (p \ 0.05) (Table 4).

Table 5 The correlation matrix for all studied water parameters (N = 20)
pH EC TDS Ca K Mg Na Cu Zn

pH 1 0.000** 0.000** 0.000** 0.000** 0.002** 0.051 0.144 0.524

EC 0.742 1 0.000** 0.000** 0.000** 0.000** 0.002** 0.060 0.483
TDS 0.744 1.000 1 0.000** 0.000** 0.000** 0.002** 0.058 0.491
Ca 0.716 0.990 0.989 1 0.000** 0.000** 0.002** 0.067 0.360
K 0.721 0.749 0.750 0.737 1 0.001** 0.103 0.001** 0.450
Mg 0.644 0.909 0.909 0.886 0.705 1 0.006** 0.040* 0.818
Na 0.442 0.653 0.653 0.651 0.376 0.595 1 0.473 0.954
Cu 0.339 0.428 0.431 0.417 0.667 0.463 0.170 1 0.169
Zn -0.152 0.167 0.163 0.216 0.179 0.055 0.014 0.320 1
Significant value (upper triangle; ** p \ 0.01, * p \ 0.05)
Correlation value, r (lower triangle)

123
Appl Water Sci (2013) 3:67–75 73

This is due to two factors which are the source of water and
the type of treatment undergone. NM bottled water is
sourced fully from groundwater which is known and
accepted to have higher concentrations of the said selected
major ions (IBWA 2000). The mineral rocks have con-
tributed ion into the water causing the NM water to have
high minerals (Mokthar et al. 2009a). Water has to undergo
certain suitable processes, commonly reverse osmosis, fil-
tration or distillation before it can be labeled as PD bottled
water (IBWA 2000). However, water treatments will
directly or indirectly cause the removal of the cations such
as calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium to a certain
degree. The values for calcium, magnesium and sodium of
D9 are consistently higher than other PD bottled water
samples, which are relatively low. This is because among
PD bottled water, D3, D6, D7 and D9 utilized groundwater
as a source. However, unlike the other three (D3, D6, D7)
which carried out distillation on their products, D9
underwent the process of filtration. According to APEC
(2000) the process of filtration is less effective in removing
dissolved particles or solids which are smaller than the pore Fig. 2 Distribution of cations in bottled water samples
size of the filter. A ternary diagram of cation distribution
can be seen in Fig. 2. The major cation chemistry for both
NM and PD bottled water samples were dominated by
Na ? K [ Ca [ Mg (Fig. 2). Based on Alloway (1995),
those elements are plentiful in the environment and make
up over 30 % of the total element content of the Earth’s
crust. The mean distribution of major ions by percentage is
individually addressed in Fig. 3 according to the type of
bottled water.
Concentration of copper is at its highest in sample M9
(1.71 lg/l) followed by sample M10 (1.28 lg/l). A closer
examination on the bottled water labels indicate that M9
and M10 were from the same source (Table 1). This shows
that groundwater from Kota Tinggi, Johor are naturally
higher in copper concentrations than other water source Fig. 3 The mean distribution of selected major ions in NM bottled
locations. In the case of zinc, there were no significant water and PD bottled water
differences among the bottled water types (p [ 0.05). This
suggests that the concentration of zinc was not affected by Health standards for drinking water quality (MMOH
the location or the type of treatments that were imposed on 2009a, b). Table 6 illustrates the results for the measured
the bottled water. The groundwater which was sourced parameters and guideline values recommended by WHO
from Taiping, Perak, generally had higher concentration of (2008) and MMOH (2009a, b).
the selected major ions (Ca, K, Mg, Na) compared to other All the samples tested were below the suggested
locations. guidelines but a closer examination of major ion compo-
sition data for the samples (Table 6) reveals that concen-
Water quality assessment trations for most of the major ions are considerably below
the applicable standards. Both EC and TDS values indicate
Results obtained were evaluated in terms of suitability of the deficiency of minerals in the Malaysian NM bottled
the selected bottled water samples for human consumption. water and also the extreme demineralization of Malaysian
Hydrochemical parameters of natural mineral (NM) and PD bottled water. Previous studies have shown that long-
packaged drinking (PD) bottled water in this study are term consumption of water low in minerals such as calcium
compared with the prescribed guidelines of World Health and magnesium do in fact pose a number of health risks.
Organization (WHO 2008) and the Malaysian Ministry of Both calcium and magnesium play important roles in the

123
74 Appl Water Sci (2013) 3:67–75

Table 6 The comparison of hydrochemical parameters of the selected brands of bottled water with WHO (2008) and MMOH (2009a, b)
guidelines for drinking water quality
Parameter Units Range (NM) Range (PD) Mean (NM) Mean (PD) WHO (2008) MMOH (2009a, b)

pH 6.79–7.57 6.49–7.67 7.33 6.86 6.50–8.00 6.50–9.00

EC mS/cm 0.181–0.375 0.002–0.192 0.239 0.024 NA NA
TDS mg/l 127–259 1.00–134 167 17.0 1,000 1,000
Ca lg/l 4,440–10,700 10.2–3,880 6,098 441 200,000 NA
K lg/l 1,320–4,440 8.24–748 2,845 277 200,000 NA
Mg lg/l 1,070–8,830 18.8–2,900 3,805 325 150,000 150,000
Na lg/l 1,100–65,100 126–3,110 22,431 686 200,000 200,000
Cu lg/l 0.11–1.71 0.03–0.96 0.640 0.239 2,000 1,000
Zn lg/l 0.96–41.3 0.19–40.5 11.6 6.20 3,000 3,000
NM natural mineral, PD packaged drinking, NA no available standard

human dietary needs (Beers and Berkow 1997). Calcium zinc are required in the human body, excessive intake can
and magnesium are vital nutrients in the human body be harmful. Surplus intake of copper may lead to nausea,
(Chiarenzelli and Pominville 2008). Besides having bene- vomiting and abdominal and muscle pain (WHO 1996)
ficial effects on the human bone structure, calcium and while the overconsumption of zinc may lead to nausea,
magnesium are linked to the reduced frequency of heart vomiting, epigastric pain, lethargy, and fatigue (Fosmire
diseases and osteoporosis, respectively (Garzon and Ei- 1990).
senberg 1998). Consuming water with low concentrations
of minerals such as calcium and magnesium is also harmful
for the body because water low in mineral content could Conclusion
lead to depletion of one’s supply of essential nutrients
(Mahajan et al. 2006). A study in Consumer Research In this study, concentration of ions of 20 bottled water
(1991) revealed that people drinking such treated water brands currently sold in the Malaysian market was deter-
excrete significant amounts of calcium, magnesium and mined. The chemical characteristics which involves phys-
other trace minerals in urine (Mahajan et al. 2006). In ical parameters, major ion constituents and trace elements
another experiment, human volunteers consuming water of the brands studied were extremely variable, depending
with low mineral contents (e.g. TDS \100 mg/l) evaluated on factors such as the natural environment (geological
by researchers for the WHO report (1980) have shown an setting, climate and topography), source water composi-
increased diuresis (almost by 20 %, on average), decreased tion, activities in the nearby water source, the piping sys-
serum potassium concentration and increased elimination tems which distribute or transport the water and type of
of calcium, magnesium, potassium, chloride and sodium treatment/purification techniques applied during the pro-
ions from the body. Low-mineral water acts as osmore- duction (Mokthar et al. 2009b). Additional changes in the
ceptors causing a net flow of minerals from erythrocytes water chemistry may also occur during transportation and
(red blood cells) into the plasma and between intracellular storage, especially when bottles are exposed to direct
and interstitial fluids. This further confirms the loss of sunlight or kept in the shelves for a certain amount of time.
minerals from one’s body due to the consumption of low- The location of the water source has been found to play
mineral water. Therefore, if consumers were to rely on the an important role in determining the water quality of bot-
mineral-deficient brands of water for long periods of time, tled water samples. Groundwater sourced from Taiping,
essential minerals such as calcium, potassium, magnesium Perak, were found to have higher concentration of the
and sodium will leach out from the body (Mahajan et al. selected major ions (Ca, K, Mg, Na) compared to other
2006). locations. Whereas water sourced from Kota Tinggi, Johor,
The concentration of the heavy metals copper and zinc were found to contain higher levels of copper. For the
in the NM bottled water and PD bottled water are lower distribution of the selected major ions, both natural mineral
than that of the guidelines of the WHO (2008) and MMOH (NM) and packaged drinking (PD) bottled water were
(2009a, b) (Table 5). Copper and zinc are essential trace dominated by Na ? K [ Ca [ Mg.
elements that are crucial to human health. Both copper and A closer look at the physicochemical qualities of the
zinc are often linked to the improvement of the human water has led to the conclusion that though bottled water is
immunity and cellular functions, respectively (Institute of regarded as safe and healthy, they should be consumed
Medicine 2001; Mahajan et al. 2006). Although copper and with care especially if bottled water is the sole source of

123
Appl Water Sci (2013) 3:67–75 75

water used for drinking purposes. Most of the brands tes- Ferrier C (2001) Bottled water: understanding a social phenomenon,
ted, especially for PDW bottled water, were over-treated WWF. http://assets.panda.org/downloads/bottled_water.pdf.
Accessed 20 Nov 2010
and were deficient in essential minerals. Extremely low Food and Water Watch (2007) Take back the tap. http://documents.
values of EC and TDS showed that the sampled bottled foodandwaterwatch.org/TakeBackTheTap_web.pdf. Accessed 15
water was deficient in essential minerals. Minerals like Oct 2010
calcium, magnesium and potassium were present in some Fosmire GJ (1990) The American Society for Clinical Nutrition—
zinc toxicity. Am J Clin Nutr 51:225–227
cases in such a low concentration that water seemed to be Garzon P, Eisenberg MJ (1998) Variations in the mineral content of
as good as distilled water. As for trace elements such as commercially available bottled waters: implications for health
copper and zinc, all samples had amounts below the limits and disease. Am J Med 105:125–130
recommended by WHO (2008) and MMOH (2009a, b) and Güler C (2007) Characterization of Turkish bottled waters using
pattern recognition methods. Chemom Intell Lab Syst 86:86–94
therefore safe to be consumed. Güler C, Thyne GD, McCray JE, Turner AK (2002) Evaluation of
Data presented in this study are important because they graphical and multivariate statistical methods for classification
can be considered as a baseline data for future reference. of water chemistry data. Hydrogeol J 10:455–474
Further knowledge and understanding of bottled water IBWA (2000) Quality and Safety: The facts about water. http://
www.thefactsaboutwater.org/quality-and-safety/. Accessed 17 Dec
including anions are necessary in the next step of this 2010
study. Lastly, a research on the presence of other chemi- Institute of Medicine, Food and Nutrition Board (2001) Dietary
cals, especially the potentially carcinogenic (e.g. trihalo- reference intakes for vitamin A, vitamin K, arsenic, boron,
methanes) or hormone-mimicking substances (bisphenol-A chromium, copper, iodine, iron, manganese, molybdenum,
nickel, silicon, vanadium, and zinc. National Academy Press,
and nonylphenols) is required to ensure the safety of bot- Washington, D.C., pp 1–28
tled water in Malaysia. King M (2008) Bottled water—global industry guide, New Research
Report on Companies and Markets, No. 68891
Acknowledgments Authors are most grateful for the comments Mahajan RK, Walia TPS, Lark BS, Sumanjit (2006) Analysis of
and suggestions provided by Professor Dr Jeffrey Chiarenzelli, physical and chemical parameters of bottled drinking water. Int J
Dr Zeinelabidin E. Rizk and anonymous reviewer, whose suggestions Environ Health Res 16(2):89–98
have contributed to the improvement of this manuscript. MMOH (2009a) Drinking water quality standard. Ministry of Health,
Malaysia
Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the MMOH (2009b) Safe drinking water: fact and fiction. Ministry of
Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, dis- Health, Malaysia
tribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original Mokthar M, Aris AZ, Abdullah MA, Yusoff MK, Abdullah MP, Idris
author(s) and the source are credited. AR, Raja Uzir RI (2009a) A pristine environment and water
quality in perspective: Maliau Basin, Borneo’s mysterious world.
Water Environ J 23:219–228
Mokthar M, Aris AZ, Munusamy V, Praveena SM (2009b) Assess-
ment level of heavy metals in Penaeus monodon and Oreochr-
References omis spp. in selected aquaculture ponds of high densities
development area. Eur J Sci Res 30(3):348–360
Abdullah MH, Ying L, Aris AZ, Park JH (2007) Water chemistry in Rajasekaran S (2009) Bottled water market in Malaysia—creating
downstream region of Tuaran River: a preliminary assessment on ripples? Research Analyst, Environment and Building Technol-
seawater intrusion due to sea level rise. In: Park JH, Inam E, Kim ogies Group APAC, Frost and Sullivan
KW (eds) Proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on Spritzer Annual Report (2009) Financial Report 2009. http://www.
Climate Change Impacts on Surface Water Quality in East Asian spritzer.com.my/html/filedownload.aspx?file=SPRITZER%20%
Watersheds, Chuncheon, Korea, pp 100–104 202009.PDF. Accessed 22 Jan 2011
Alloway BJ (1995) Heavy metals in soils, 2nd edn. Blackie Academic Trivedi RK, Goel PK (1986) Chemical and biological methods for
and Professional, London water pollution studies. Environmental Publications, Karad
APEC (2000) Different water filtration methods explained. http:// Ward LA, Cain OL, Mullally RA, Holliday KS, Wernham AGH,
www.freedrinkingwater.com/water-education/quality-water- Baillie PD, Greenfield SM (2009) Health beliefs about bottled
filtrationmethod.htm. Accessed 22 March 2011 water: a qualitative study. BMC Public Health 9:196
APHA (1998) Standard methods for the examination of water and waste WHO (1980) Guidelines on health aspects of water desalination.
water, 18th edn. American Public Health Assoc, Washington, DC World Health Organization, Geneva
Appelo CAJ, Postma D (1994) Geochemistry, groundwater and WHO (1996) Guidelines for drinking water quality, Health Criteria,
pollution, 2nd corrected print. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, p 536 and other supporting information, 2nd edn. WHO, Geneva,
Beers M, Berkow R (1997) Water and sodium metabolism. USA: The pp 367–370
Merck manual of diagnosis and therapy. 12:12 WHO (2008) Guidelines for drinking-water quality. Recommenda-
Chiarenzelli J, Pominville C (2008) Bottled water selection and health tions. Incorporating 1st and 2nd Addenda, vol 1, 3rd edn. World
considerations from multi-element analysis of products sold in Health Organization (WHO), Geneva
New York State. J Water Health 6(4):505–517 World Water Data (2004) Data Table 10—Bottled Water Consump-
Consumer Research (1991) How good is bottled water? Consumer tion by Country, 1997 to 2004. http://www.worldwater.org/data
Res 10–15 20062007/Table10.pdf. Accessed 15 Dec 2010
Devi S, Premkumar R (2012) Physicochemical analysis of ground-
water samples near industrial area, Cuddalore District, Tamiln-
adu, India. Int J Chem Tech Res 4(1):29–34

123